Naomi Osaka turned pro in September 2013. Since then, she has seen some great highs as well as some heartbreaking lows.
The former world No. 1 had a terrific start to her WTA career as she defeated former US Open champion Samantha Stosur in her WTA Tour debut at the 2014 Stanford Classic. She also went on to win two US Open titles herself in 2018 and 2020. The California-based Osaka also won the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021.
Everything seemed to be going in the right direction for her until she suffered mental health issues and missed a lot of action. She decided not to conduct her mandatory media assignments during the French Open in 2021. She was fined for her actions after not having a session with the media post winning her first-round match at the clay-court major. Osaka withdrew from the tournament citing mental health issues.
She missed the 2021 Wimbledon and returned ahead of the US Open. She played the Cincinnati Open to fine-tune her skills ahead of her US Open title defense. However, she suffered an upset in the third round. At the Flushing Meadows, she could not make it beyond the third round. She threw her racket and received a code violation for hitting a ball into the stands. Post this, she took another hiatus.
Fans rally behind Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka returned to action in Melbourne Summer Set 1 in 2022. She has not had a great time, battling injuries and abysmal form.
Osaka made it to the final of the Miami Open where she lost to Iga Swiatek. Other than that, there is nothing much to brag home about as far as 2022 is concerned. She suffered a loss in straight sets against Amanda Anisimova in the first round of the French Open.
Injuries have also been stopping her progress. She has to miss Wimbledon this year due to an injury to her left Achilles. She had mentioned ahead of Wimbledon that the injury had hampered her mentally as well.
Osaka posted a tweet recently, where she mentioned how confused she was in regard to terming this year as good or bad for her. She wrote:
“Tbh I can’t tell if this has been a terrible year or a great one.”
Fans supported the 24-year-old in reply to this emotional tweet.
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